One of the gilled men threw himself in front of me, letting out a roar of bloodlust as he gutted two zombies in one go. Finn’s men were attempting to form a box around where I stood. Though part of me was scared, seeing their precision and tenacity made me act as if I was fearless. I shot out between two of them and tackled one that was gunning for Finn before he hit his mark.
I didn’t know how to deal with my participation in the gore, so I put it on a shelf in my mind and kept going, following Kabayo’s orders for his soldiers to attack until we were told otherwise. This led to more stabbing, swallowed screaming and a spear that missed its deadly mark and sliced my shoulder instead. My howl of pain scared even me, but Finn pulled my body tight to his side, reminding us that pain would have to wait until later to be acknowledged. “Keep fighting!” he urged everyone around him. The gilled man on my right swung wildly with his sword, so I made sure to give him a wide berth.
My jagged knife plunged into the stomach of a woman I didn’t know. She’d tried to claw at my face, so I stabbed her. This was who I was now. The inmates had trained me well for the cruelty of this soulless fight.
As the battle grew to chaos around us, I was horrified that I wasn’t horrified, and what that said about me.
12
Falling Back and Running Forward
Blood was dripping down my back and over my chest, each movement reminding me of the slice that felt like the spear was still in me. I nearly cried when I heard a trumpet sound above the din. “Fall back!” Finn told me, grabbing my bad shoulder. “Run!”
I didn’t need to be told twice. I spun on my heel and ran with Finn, the gilled soldiers and the horsemen I didn’t know toward the village wall. I hoped there was some sort of plan other than for all of us to get skewered in the back.
Overhead I saw something that looked sort of like a brown cow dropping from the sky’s gray cloud vortex as if it had been fired from a cannon. I turned and saw a real, live centaur land with what should’ve been a splat, but its purposeful crash to the rain-soaked earth gave way to a gallop. The beast charged straight into the undead heart of the enemy. I looked up as I ran and saw a peppering of centaurs flying down from the flat, dark cyclone that circled in the sky above us. I thought I was running fast before, but at this, my legs really started to fly. Kabayo’s soldiers bolted into the main city like ants scurrying into their hill.
A few horsemen lingered, carrying their injured compatriots back. That’s when I saw an olive-skinned gilled man limping toward the gate with too many zombies on his tail. I broke away from Finn and charged at the enemy as three of them jumped on my guy, biting his shoulder, arm and hand. He howled and fell seconds before I reached them, but I didn’t stop. I flew at them with abandon, the rain and wind whipping through my hair and telling me it was all or nothing. I jumped and tackled one of the zombies on my guy, knocking him back with a groan. I had to do something to give Finn’s man a second to fight the monsters that threatened his life. I stabbed my supine zombie through the neck, jumped up and sliced another through the back, hitting what I hoped was his kidney. I didn’t stop until my jagged knife plunged the third through his eye socket.
I grimaced at that last one. I mean, totally gross.
“Run, October! Go back to the gate. I’ve got this!” Finn charged past us, knocking several more zombies over with sheer force, his sword swinging like a madman on a mission. The two remaining gilled men charged out to fight with their captain, their war cries resounding through the field.
The centaurs landed at random and began slaughtering the zombies with fierce expressions, hoofs of iron and swords swinging.
I lifted the gilled bloody guy by his armpits, not caring if I did more damage to his shoulder. The goal was to get him back behind the wall. He blinked and lifted his head, pulling out of my grip and staggering to his feet. “Run, Lady Omen!”
“We’ll go together. Hurry!” I let him lean on my good shoulder and guided him toward the gate. I breathed far easier once I handed him over to the awaiting Tikbalangs. They dragged him to the nearest tavern with the other wounded, which was about half a block back from the stone wall.
I turned toward the gate and peeked out through the soldiers to find two horsemen, two gilled men and Finn still fighting as they tried to fall back without getting stabbed to death.
I couldn’t take the standing and waiting for someone to get gutted. I ran back out, stabbing at random as I fought my way to Finn, who was quickly outnumbered. The centaurs were still landing, though not as close to us as to be super helpful just yet.
I didn’t feel the slice on my shoulder. I didn’t feel winded, and didn’t notice the pelting rain anymore. I saw a zombie jump atop Finn, biting down hard on his neck, and lost my shiz. “No!” I screamed through the pouring rain, my feet sliding on the slick ground as I charged toward the fray with all the gusto in my much smaller body. I’d brought Finn in on this. He was here because of me. Because I wanted to run away from my problems. I couldn’t stand the fighting, and now I was smack in the middle of a war.
In hindsight, I probably shouldn’t have jumped at the zombie, knocking him sideways and putting me closer to the fight. I couldn’t think about getting myself out; I only knew that if Finn died because of me, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. I stabbed and sliced until one of the gilled men ripped me off my prey. “Fall back!” he reminded me, carving through a zombie’s tendon.
I glanced around, but could barely see any further than a few feet in front of me; the rain was so thick. “Is everyone safe? Where’s Finn?”
“I’m here!” Finn shouted, stumbling beside me and dragging me by my arm toward the gate. “And you’re crazy!”
13
Fake Royal, Real Nurse
Somehow we made it to the other side of the stone wall, leaving a trail of blood in our wake. From there I was immediately corralled into the tavern nearby with the wounded soldiers. There were around three dozen of them that were visibly injured. I set to work, going straight to the woman who I was told owned the tavern with her hubby. “Hi, I’m a nurse. Do you have a sewing kit and some clean rags? I can get started patching some of these guys up.”
The woman was dumbfounded at all the wounded soldiers. Just as they were, she was torn between the devastation of war and the elation of the first rain they’d had in who knows how long. The centaurs coming to fight for the people made the tavern buzz with versions of “Did you see the big one with the dappled hide?” and “I saw one slaughter three of Sama’s soldiers with a single blow!”
It was hard to get her to focus. “What’s your name?” I asked, redirecting her attention.
She blinked at me, her glassy horse eyes wide as she wiped her dainty human hands on her apron. “I’m Bonito. Who are you?”
“My name’s October, and I can help clean some of these guys up. Needle and thread?” I knew better than to ask for gloves, though I desperately craved them.
“Oh! Right, yes. Of course.” She darted away, snapping to action and running up the stairs to retrieve what I needed.
I jogged into the kitchen and snatched up a pot, but knew there was no water around to fill it. I grabbed Finn, who was standing at the door. His hand was pressed to his bloody neck as he watched the centaurs work to full-on exterminate the zombie army out on the battlefield in the distance. “Finn? I need this pot filled with water. Help a girl out?”
“Uh, yeah. Sure.” He didn’t even look, but felt around for the pot and sprayed water inside from his hands as if he was using a hose.
“Thanks.” I went back to the kitchen and hefted the pot atop the wood-burning stove, glad it was already hot. I went back out to the bar area just as Bonito was racing down the stairs, her pale blue shin-length dress flying out behind her. Her horse head was dappled, and her creamy arms were similarly freckled. When she thrust the sewing kit at me, I gave her another job before she grew overwhelmed with the crazy day and the men bleeding all over her bar’s floor. “I need al
l the clean rags you’ve got, now. And some clean sheets we can rip into strips to make bandages, unless you happen to have a ton of bandages laying around somewhere.”
“Yes, ma’am!” Bonito was happy to be given a concrete mission, and ran off to put herself to use.
I went to the kitchen and heated the needle, hoping that was enough to disinfect it in such a rural setting. Mason had told me that Terraway creatures didn’t get diseases from germs, like humans did. I’m not sure if he was trying to pacify me or not, but I clung to that as the truth I needed to be able to do my job.
The rustic tavern was all roughly hewn wood and exposed nails. There wasn’t a clean place to lay any of the patients, but I knew I couldn’t worry about that now. I knelt beside the first horseman still in his leather armor, putting on my calm nurse smile as I rolled up his pant leg to reveal the source of all the blood staining his brown pants. “I’m sorry. I don’t have anything to numb you with, but you really need stitches. Can you grit your teeth through it?”
I think he knew there was no other option. The slice was clean, but too long for a simple bandage. “Of course.” He let out a brash whinny to show to his injured buddies that he wasn’t a wuss. “Do what you need to.”
I asked him his name, where he lived, what he wanted to be when he was a boy, and about a dozen other things to occupy his mind while I tugged on his skin. When I finished with a light smile I knew he needed, Bonito was ready with the sheets she’d shredded into long strips. She gently wrapped his leg while I set to work stitching up the next guy after threading a new needle. We went down the row of soldiers who were propped up against the bar, sitting on the floor and talking animatedly about the wonder of the rain and the return of the Ganado. They barely noticed me as I stitched, cleaned and treated their wounds as best I could. I wasn’t exactly a veterinarian, and I wasn’t totally sure if the facial abrasions should be treated like I would a patient, or like a vet might treat a horse. I did the best I could, frustrated only when I couldn’t lift my arm without my sliced shoulder causing me a world of pain. Then my fingers started to tremble beyond what I could tolerate and still make a proper suture. I was determined not to scratch my hands in front of the soldiers.
The germs would not get me. The germs would not get me. I repeated my mantra over and over. I decided I could get through this because soon enough I’d be back in my bedroom, and my bedroom was perfect. I sighed through a gust of anxiety, promising myself that if I could get through this, my perfectly pristine bedroom would be waiting for me with no germs infesting it at all.
“Nurse October, are you alright?” Bonito asked as I clenched and unclenched my fist in an attempt to regain control over my slight tremor.
“Never better. Big day for you guys, right? So exciting.” It was all I had to say for Bonito to get distracted with the monumental day we’d all been witness to. She started chatting animatedly with the horsemen around her about the miracle of the rain, leaving me to work in peace.
My next patient was the olive-skinned gilled man who’d fought next to me, and who I’d dragged back to the gate toward the end. He was unconscious, but breathing steadily. I checked his pulse, which was low, but even enough for me to concern myself only with the obvious wounds on his neck, shoulder and hand. The hand was easy enough to clean and bandage without rousing him, but the needle tugging on his shoulder brought him back to the land of excited commotion. “What? Where? Am I dead?”
“No. But you are a stranger. Can you tell me your name?” I took the candle Bonito had given me to sterilize my needles with and checked his pupils for responsiveness to light. No concussion. That’s good.
“Ben. Benjamin of the Seventh Lake. And you’re the Omen.”
I cast him a baleful look, my voice quieting. “Alright, alright. Don’t spread that around.”
Bonito gasped. “You’re what? I thought you were a slave of Captain Finn!”
“Potato-Potahto.”
She hoisted me up seconds after I tied off Ben’s last stitch. “You’ll not crawl around on the floor like a dog. Oh, the king will have my head for this! Up on a stool with you. Here, let me fetch a fresh pail of rainwater to wash your feet. I’ve got several buckets hanging outside.”
“Bonito, it’s fine. I promise. Kabayo would probably rather I help these guys than sit here and watch everyone bleed out.”
“My brother was one of the warriors who marched King Geon’s land to rescue you, you know. He said you were the most beautiful maiden in their land.” She motioned to the row of wounded I still had yet to tend to. “Many of these men were there that day.”
I choked back the rising emotion that these were some of the soldiers who’d come to rescue me from the unending darkness of Geon’s cell. I knelt back down and dabbed at the blood on Ben’s neck. I tried to ignore Bonito’s fretting and hand-wringing that Kabayo would be upset I was on my hands and knees in a bar.
“It’s not too deep here,” I said reassuringly to Ben. “Doesn’t look like the zombie guy chomped down on anything too important. You fell pretty hard out there. Stretch out your arms for me. Now I’m going to push down, but you can’t let me, okay?”
I tested the strength left in both his arms and judged the damage not to be too detrimental. Ben watched my face as I tested his leg reflexes. “You ran back out to save me.”
I shrugged, unwilling to soak in the gratitude exuding from him. I kept my eyes on my work. “You fought next to me, too. Probably saved my life a dozen times. So I still owe you, like, eleven saves.”
His black eyes studied me. “You’re not from Dagat. You didn’t even know my name. You’re an Omen. You shouldn’t have even been on that field, and you ran back out to rescue me.”
“You’re making it sound cooler than it was. We’re war buddies now. Isn’t that how it’s supposed to work? Would you have left me to rot on the field?”
“No, but you’re an Omen. We all depend on you to stay alive.”
“Well, you helped keep me from biting it out there. It only seemed right to return the favor.”
Ben’s mouth fell open, as if I was telling him something that blew his mind, but to me felt like Fighting 101. As I finished cleaning him up, he took two fingers and placed them sideways across his heart, and then saluted me, like some sort of rite of passage. I returned the gesture, and he smiled, inclining his head to me humbly.
“What are you doing?” Finn asked, his tone curt as he came up and stood behind me.
“Calculus. What does it look like I’m friggin’ doing?”
“Get up. Seriously. You’re on the floor like a commoner. Don’t you know anything about your position?”
“I know a fair bit about your position – laid out on the floor if you keep nagging me. These guys are injured, Finn. That’s a little more important than waving around my fake royalty card.”
“It’s not a fake…” He rubbed his forehead in exasperation. “Fine. Have it your way, but don’t leave my sight. And after this last one, you’re done. You’ve got who knows how many people’s blood on you. You’re covered!”
I didn’t tell him that a generous portion of the blood that stained my clothes was probably mine. My hands were shaking again, and if I stopped for too long, I felt short of breath and queasy. “Bonito, do you think you could get Finn something to eat? He gets crabby when he’s hungry.”
“Oh, shut it. I’m not hungry. Don’t talk to me like I’m five.”
“Then stop acting like you’re five. And actually, a five-year-old knows how to get food for himself. So I was more treating you like you were three.” I looked over my shoulder to Bonito. “See? He’s already getting crabby.”
“Of course!” Bonito ran into the kitchen while Finn grumbled under his breath.
He watched as I finished cleaning up the last Tikbalang in the row whose bash to the head needed more than I could give him at the moment. I cleared my throat and walked over to the olive-skinned Mer-soldier. “Ben? Could you keep an eye on this gu
y over here for me? No matter what, you have to keep him awake for a few hours. Can you do that for me? I’m pretty sure he’s got a concussion.”
“Anything. I owe you my life.” He extended his arm and I helped him to stand, letting him use me as a crutch to walk over to the injured horseman who needed looking after.
I set him down gently and waved off his admiration with a weak hand as I knelt to check my patient’s pupils again. “None of that kinda talk. Thanks for looking out. And if you start to feel woozy, let me know. You lost a decent amount of blood.”
“Alright, you’re done,” Finn ruled. “Up off the floor with you.”
I took the hand Finn offered me, but stood a little too quickly. Stupid blood loss. My knees were unsteady and the room started to spin, pulling me downward with too much gravity. My ebbing adrenaline plummeted, and my knees buckled.
“Whoa! Easy, now.” Finn scooped me up in his arms that had various cuts marking them, and called over the bar into the kitchen. “Bonito, show us to your biggest room. The Omen needs to rest. I would take her to the palace, but until the Ganado finishes off Sama’s army, I don’t want my men or her stepping foot outside this tavern. They may not recognize us as allies, since we’re not kin.”
“Of course! Right this way.”
I prayed Finn’s muscular arms were a safe place, since there was precious little I could do to fend off an attack now. My heart rate stuttered as he clutched me to his chest, and carried me up the stairs to our room.
14
What Scared Me Most
Bonito grabbed a key off the wall and a tall brass candlestick, leading the way past the others who watched me with sympathetic “oh, how precious” expressions as I lay mostly limp in Finn’s arms. I’d just fought a battle with them and killed my fair share of zombies, but now I looked weak and small, even to myself. I didn’t much like the contrast.
Tempt (Terraway Book 4) Page 7